International Space Station (Updates)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Space debris....We'll have one less piece at approximately 12:00 EDT  on Tuesday, June 15.

 

The TRMM, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, satellite, co-sponsored by NASA and Japan's JAXA, will re-enter and "mostly" burn up....there will be a few spare parts thrown around...area...unknown.........yard sale availability...to be determined........

 

 

 

About 12 pieces of space debris from the nearly 3-ton satellite are expected to survive the plunge through Earth's atmosphere and reach the surface. The chance that one of these pieces would strike someone is approximately 1 in 4,200, which is a relatively low chance, according to NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office.

As its name suggests, the TRMM satellite's orbit brings it over the tropics between 35 degrees North latitude and 35 degrees South latitude. The earth-watching satellite launched from Tanegashima, Japan on Nov. 27, 1997 on a planned three-year mission. TRMM ultimately lasted about 17 years before it was shut down on April 15 of this year.

 

 

 

According to the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, the estimated human injury risk (updated in 2015) is roughly 1 in 4,200. One in 4,200 means that if the same re-entry were to occur repeatedly 4,200 times, the expectation is that that only one person on Earth would be harmed.

"Since the beginning of the space age in the 1950s, there has been no confirmed report of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

http://www.space.com/29664-nasa-satellite-falling-out-of-space.html

 

/s.................Meanwhile in other news, several countries have announced Tuesday as "National Hardhat Day"................

[Arachno 1D]

 

According to the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, the estimated human injury risk (updated in 2015) is roughly 1 in 4,200. One in 4,200 means that if the same re-entry were to occur repeatedly 4,200 times, the expectation is that that only one person on Earth would be harmed.

Shirley thats inaccurate it actually means one in every 4200 people on the planet have a chance of being hit by a piece of satellite...

 

BTW What sort of quality was the data over all those years?

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Shirley thats inaccurate it actually means one in every 4200 people on the planet have a chance of being hit by a piece of satellite...

 

BTW What sort of quality was the data over all those years?

As you realize, statistical analysis is a "fuzzy entity unto itself", any data can be manipulated to achieve the outcome desired for spin control. It can also be used for great discovery. The quote is from NASA itself and is portrayed as odds that may be different to others perception of usage....read the fine print. In this cause, they have stated that they could throw this satellite at the atmosphere 4,000 times and 1 person could be hit. Think of it another way....7 billion people on the planet, have everyone allotted 10 square feet while standing...combine the 7 billion area's and you will have an area less than 100 miles x 40 miles ((160 km x 60 km)....the rest of the planet is free........gives a context. The next item is reporting....does everyone know space junk....or do we require people hit by a panel to show up with the panel stuck in your head.....NASA has standards for it's statistical reporting of an event......would take a search to find out...but when it comes to this dry stuff.....give it a "google", but I suggest you would have more fun in other ventures....good question though arachnoid....you're putting the boots to us lately..

 

/s Airport movie...."I'm not Shirley...she is....(points to blow up doll in pilots seat)............

[Blue-Vision]

Shirley thats inaccurate it actually means one in every 4200 people on the planet have a chance of being hit by a piece of satellite...

 

BTW What sort of quality was the data over all those years?

Of course I'm Serious. And don't call me Shirley.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Of course I'm Serious. And don't call me Shirley.

OK Serious.........I'm Confused.......Shirley is still in the pilot's seat.......... 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA Launch Schedule for ISS.......dates subject to change.......

 

 

 

Jun 26, 2015          Dragon C10(CRS-7)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 7
Jul   , 2015  60P     Progress M-28M/Soyuz 2.1a  ISS Logistics Supply
Jul 24, 2015  43S     Soyuz TMA-17M/Soyuz FG     Crew Transport
                        Expedition 44 Crew Part (3): Oleg Kononenko, Kimiya Yui, Kjell N. Lindgren  
Aug 17, 2015  HTV-5   HTV/H-IIB                  JAXA ISS HTV-5
Sep  1, 2015  44S     Soyuz TMA-18M/Soyuz FG     Crew Transport
                        Expedition 45 Crew Part (3): Sergey Volkov, Andreas Mogensen, Sarah Brightman
Sep  2, 2015          Dragon C11(CRS-8)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 8
Oct 22, 2015  61P     Progress MS-1/Soyuz U      ISS Logistics Supply
Nov 19, 2015          Cygnus CRS-5 Orb-4/Antares ISS CRS Flight Orbital-4
Nov 20, 2015  45S     Soyuz TMA-19M/Soyuz FG     Crew Transport
                        Expedition 46 Crew Part (3): Yuri Malenchenko, Timothy Peake, Timothy Kopra
Dec  5, 2015          Dragon C12(CRS-9)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 9
Feb 12, 2016  62P     Progress MS-2/Soyuz U      ISS Logistics Supply
Feb 13, 2016          Dragon C13(CRS-10)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 10
Mar 18, 2016  46S     Soyuz TMA-MS-01/Soyuz FG   Crew Transport
                        Expedition 47 Crew Part (3): Jeff Williams, Alexey Ovchinin, Oleg Skripochka
Mar 30, 2016          Cygnus CRS-6 Orb-5/Antares ISS CRS Flight Orbital-5
Apr  5, 2016          Dragon C14(CRS-11)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 11
Apr 29, 2016  63P     Progress M29M/Soyuz 2.1a   ISS Logistics Supply
May 26, 2016  47S     Soyuz TMA-20M/Soyuz FG     Crew Transport
                        Expedition 48 Crew Part (3): Anatoli Ivanishin, Takuya Onishi, Kathleen Rubins
Jun   , 2016          Cygnus CRS-7 Orb-6/Antares ISS CRS Flight
Jul 30, 2016  64P     Progress MS-3/Soyuz 2.1a   ISS Logistics Supply
Aug   , 2016          Dragon C15(CRS-12)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 12
      , 2016  HTV-6   HTV/H-IIB                  JAXA ISS HTV-6
Sep 21, 2016  48S     Soyuz TMA-MS-02/Soyuz 2.1a Crew Transport
                        Expedition 49 Crew Part (3): Sergey N. Ryzhikov, Andrei Borisenko, Robert S. Kimbrough
Oct   , 2016          Cygnus CRS-8 Orb-7/Antares ISS CRS Flight
Oct 30, 2016  65P     Progress MS-4/Soyuz 2.1a   ISS Logistics Supply
Nov  1, 2016          OFT 1/Atlas V412           Dreamchaser uncrewed test
Nov 16, 2016  49S     Soyuz MS-03/Soyuz FG       Crew Transport
                        Expedition 50 Crew Part (3): Oleg Novitskiy, Peggy Whitson, Thomas Pesquet
Dec   , 2016          Dragon-2 DM-1/Falcon 9 1.1 Dragon-2 uncrewed Test
Feb   , 2017          Dragon C16(CRS-13)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 13
Feb 22, 2017  66P     Progress MS-5/Soyuz 2.1a   ISS Logistics Supply
Mar 30, 2017  50S     Soyuz MS-4/Soyuz 2.1a      Crew Transport
                        Expedition 51 Crew Part (3): TBD
Apr  3, 2017          Dragon C17(CRS-14)/Falcon 9 ISS CRS Flight 14
Apr   , 2017          Boeing OFT/Atlas V422 AV-073  CST-100 uncrewed Test
Apr   , 2017          Dragon-2 DM-2/Falcon 9 1.1 Dragon-2 crewed Test
May  3, 2017  67P     Progress MS-6/Soyuz 2.1a   ISS Logistics Supply
May 30, 2017  51S     Soyuz MS-5/Soyuz 2.1a      Crew Transport
                        Expedition 52 Crew Part (3): TBD

http://spider.seds.org/shuttle/iss-sche.html

http://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule/

 

Note...3 July 2015...now Progress 60P...12:55 am Eastern

Note...22 July 2015....instead of 24th, Expedition 44, 5:02 pm Eastern

 

Next One.........SpaceX CRS-7 ...26 June 2015....11:09 am Eastern

[Draggendrop Veteran]

TRMM Satellite.....re-entry at 2:54 am, June 16, over South Indian Ocean.....

 

 

A long-serving Earth observation satellite has succumb to a fiery demise via an uncontrolled destructive re-entry on Tuesday. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Carrying on with our space debris concerns....at what point do we have so many satellites in LEO that it constitutes a hazard to get through that orbital sphere slice.

 

 

atellites are tracked by United States Space Surveillance Network (SSN), which has been tracking every object in orbit over 10 cm (3.937 inches) in diameter since it was founded in 1957. There are approximately 3,000 satellites operating in Earth orbit, according to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), out of roughly 8,000 man-made objects in total. In its entire history, the SSN has tracked more than 24,500 space objects orbiting Earth. The majority of these have fallen into unstable orbits and incinerated during reentry. The SSN also keeps track which piece of space junk belongs to which country.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-many-satellites-are-orbiting-the-earth.htm

 

WE have many more constellations of devices going up still....such as....

 

 

LE BOURGET, France

[DocM]

The tech for integrating spacecraft into the FAA air traffic control system is being tested on Dragon, and more tests like it are coming.

http://www.aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/spacex-dragon-helping-faa-free-more-airspace

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The tech for integrating spacecraft into the FAA air traffic control system is being tested on Dragon, and more tests like it are coming.

http://www.aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/spacex-dragon-helping-faa-free-more-airspace

That's what we need...prefer the FAA do it...top notch outfit and great analysis branch.....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The ISS abounds with experiments requiring micro gravity.  Now we may see physicists suiting up for a ride to the ISS, Bigelow units or the moon for a few quantum experiments. Gravity, still with a few unknowns, has it's force felt mainly at large scale. This force has been overlooked at very small scale experiments with normally good results. The problem being, once an experimental quantum size gets bigger (still very small), gravity kicks in and ruins results. The superposition principle can be thought of as two states in one occurrence...is it a particle..is it a wave. For macro analyses,a lot of wave functions are evident. As we get to the quantum state....particles become more evident and superposition as well. Think of an electron cloud in orbit...meaning we have a general idea of position....but the further we test for accuracy....we define one variable and loose the other. On the macro scale...think of a ball player...a pitcher throwing a fast ball...looks fluid, like a wave equation...dilate time..and we get jumpy particle movement gaining quanta for the next energy level...rough example but we get the idea. Time dilation, is what makes time appear different to different observers...like a week in a worm hole being months on a planet...

 

/s...........Here we go " The Big Bang" cast in space suits.....definitely going to be entertaining........  

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27735-earths-gravity-may-force-us-to-do-quantum-experiments-in-space.html

[Draggendrop Veteran]

There are several camera's on various modules of the ISS. Some are for crew use as well as commercial. One company, UrtheCast, installed an HD camera on the Russian segment. NASA has various camera's for real time viewing as well. Skybox Imaging also has camera's on board.

This is UrtheCast camera setup.....

 

They have released an HD video on Vimeo at the following link...

http://spacenews.com/urthecast-releases-high-definition-video-from-space-station-camera/

 

 

 

NEW YORK

[Draggendrop Veteran]

While browsing space and physics sites, I came across a "look back at" article which featured the Russian MIR space station. I thought it would make a good post to "show and tell" about this very important station......it was what made the ISS possible.

 

1) 20 February 1986 till 23 March 2001

 

2) 5519 days in orbit, 4592 occupied

 

3) 86,331 orbits, speed was 7,700 m/s (27,700 kph)

 

4) 129,700 kg, L x W x H was 19 m, 31 m, 27.5 m, mass was 129,700 kg

 

5) altitude was 350 km to 370 km

 

Originally started by the USSR, the station became a multinational training lab, spurred the Shuttle-MIR program, and was such a success that a prior MIR-2 project was scraped in favour of a multinational space station called ISS, a renamed  US project called Freedom.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Mir

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-mir-space-station.html

 

MIR during 1996...

 

STS-71 at MIR, photo from Soyuz TM-21

 

STS-71 photo of MIR

 

STS-89 MIR approach

 

MIR station tour....

 

MIR burn up on re-entry.......sad day...

 

Hope you found it interesting....Cheers.....

 

[Arachno 1D]

How many more modules is the ISS expected to encompass or is it in the final build stage right now ?

[Draggendrop Veteran]

How many more modules is the ISS expected to encompass or is it in the final build stage right now ?

We have a new Russian module, which is under going propulsion unit changes, that will be launched in the near future. This module will also have the ESA robotic arm attached to it...arm is waiting for module completion. The module is named Nauka...see link for data....

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauka_(ISS_module)

[Arachno 1D]

They'd better make two just in case

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The children of Italy were proud to have their own astronaut in space, school projects, letters sent to the ISS (picture of those a few pages back) and a request for a bed time story from space...well someone got their wish.......

 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star read from the ISS by Sam.......cool.........after all........do what you can for the kids........

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

New camera's for the MSS, Mobile Servicing System (space railway)

 

 

 

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Must be camera month, ....NASA tries new 4K handheld camera on ISS....

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11679784/Astronauts-cook-space-burgers-in-high-resolution-on-the-International-Space-Station.html 

 

 

 

Astronauts in the International Space Station have been filming for the first time using a 4K high-resolution camera.
The camera was used to watch every day life in the space station as well as experiments and to watch the spectacular view of the Earth below.
This is to give scientists a clearer insight as to what life looks like in orbit of the Earth.

Here is a picture taken from that cam....lots of detail............oh.........and yes..........space taco/cheese burger......ISS style

 

4K video at the linkabove....reduced quality u-tube one here...

 

Since I am tired of camera news.......goofy time...space related.....

 

Space hamburger.......kinda...

 

Space chair....kinda...

 

Space iPhone 4S.........kinda...

 

First beer in space....kinda...

 

Coors light in space.....kinda...

 

Felex will not be outdone by Coors....Red Bull time......

 

/s....I personally want to "one up them all"...therefore I am thinking of crowd sourcing the ultimate ride, after I find very small safety hat, work gloves, cool sunglasses and work boots for my "buddy" who will do the same ride..but look much cooler....

Space Gumby...on location for the shoot.....

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

One of the biggest problems with existing satellites, is maintaining orbital position for geosynchronous or maintaining correct orbital altitude and velocity for moving satellites. This requires fuel for thrusters...the more you use the thrusters...the less fuel you have...the sat's lifetime is reduced.

 

NASA has been testing robotic refueling techniques, a few times on the ISS with mock systems and extensive test on earth by remote control. Commercial applications have been well received but real market needs to be evaluated as well as insurance implications...

 

 

 

More than 1,100 satellites are orbiting the Earth right now transmitting TV shows and phone calls, collecting rainforest data and spying on missile bases around the planet. Most are expensive, costing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to build, launch and operate.

Now NASA wants to build a satellite service station that can gas up and repair aging birds, giving them a few years more life before they fall into the Earth's atmosphere and

 http://www.space.com/29698-orbiting-rest-stops-repair-satellites.html

 

 

 

NASA astronauts have been practicing during two Robotic Refueling Missions on the International Space Station in 2011 and 2014, while engineers on the ground at Goddard have been developing new kinds of fuel nozzles, wire-cutters, drills and other robotic tools.

They also built a shiny, gold-foil-covered, 20-foot tall mockup of the Landsat-7 satellite in order to practice docking maneuvers necessary for fueling up in space.

http://www.space.com/29698-orbiting-rest-stops-repair-satellites.html

 

Simulated refueler satellite......

 

NASA refueling video...

http://www.space.com/24949-robotic-satellite-refueling-tech-works-nasa-proves-video.html

[DocM]

One of the biggest problems with existing satellites, is maintaining orbital position for geosynchronous or maintaining correct orbital altitude and velocity for moving satellites. This requires fuel for thrusters...the more you use the thrusters...the less fuel you have...the sat's lifetime is reduced.

>

That's less of a problem now that satellites are being equipped with solar-electric propulsion (SEP), usually in the form of Hall Effect thrusters which use either xenon, argon or krypton as a reaction mass. This takes the propellant mass down from 1-3 tonnes to as little as 10-50 kilograms. Some Hall thrusters aren't much larger than a computer case fan.

There are even SEP units which can fit in a tiny cubesat. This pic shows several mini-thrusters made by MIT,

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Update on Camera's

 

1) Urthecast....with the camera platform stabilized, some promotional shots have been done with a 6 meter class, taking 50 km wide swath shots. You can check out the short video's at their gallery...an example is a shot of Boston where you can see the ballpark, Fenway, and see cars moving on the streets...Dubai is good too...

http://gallery.urthecast.com/

 

2) The ultra HD 4K camera first shots are here.....click-watch on u-tube, then change the u-tube settings to the 4K  and run.

 

3) The NASA ultra HD video...same...is true 4K.......4096x2048........u-tube is actually 3890x1922........The NASA Ultra HD video is at their video archive site...which is where all others will probably go as well.....check the difference....

https://archive.org/details/NASA-Ultra-High-Definition

 

The shot of SpaceX CRS-6 is amazing.......

[Arachno 1D]

So what does a piece of equipment have to overcome to be authorised for use in Space.I can think of three

 

Vibration - able to with stand high levels of vibration from launch etc,

Pressure - specially designed internal pressure containers/chambers if it has them

Temperature - Thermal conduction for hot components

 

So how does say the laptops transfer heat away as I take it unlike Earth bound PCs a simple fan system wont work?

[FloatingFatMan]

So how does say the laptops transfer heat away as I take it unlike Earth bound PCs a simple fan system wont work?

 

As far as I know, airflow is still airflow, even in microgravity...

[DocM]

The laptops on ISS (and Shuttle) are Lenovo Thinkpads and they had to be tested for radiation tolerance, off-gassing (ex: plastic vapors), thermal characteristics, fire safety & fire suppression.